Police are investigating the theft of $300,000 in wiring from a northwest Atlanta warehouse that's been transformed into a movie set for an upcoming Hollywood film. Police said the thieves stripped the wiring from the building, one of several break-ins in recent weeks in the Defoors Ferry Road area.

The Georgia Senate has approved a bill targeting scrap metal theft that places more requirements on recyclers and addresses what supporters of the legislation say is a growing problem in the state. It is the fourth time in five years the General Assembly has addressed metal theft.

A Georgia Senate panel has approved a bill targeting scrap metal theft that places more requirements on recyclers and requires sellers of used cars 20 years or older without a title to prove ownership.

Theft of copper and other metals is getting a lot of attention in the General Assembly this year. At least three bills in the legislature aim to strengthen regulations in hopes of stemming losses from metal theft.

Georgia Transmission Corp., which supplies power to most of the state’s electric membership cooperatives, has seen nearly twice as many copper thefts this year as it did in 2010. Recently it paid its first $3,000 reward to a Soperton couple who provided information that led to the conviction of some copper thieves.

Theft of wiring and scrap metal is an expensive problem showing no signs of subsiding for businesses and homeowners. But there’s a new technology helping to make cases easier to prosecute. The difficulty prosecuting cases has always been proving exactly where wiring comes from. But Georgia Power’s Carol Boatwright says the utility’s been buying new copper wiring that has unique codes etched on it. It's like a fingerprint.